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Building heat hurts corn, soybean crops

Mother Nature reminds producers that it isn’t autumn yet as corn and soybeans bake in the soaring temperatures blanketing most of the nation’s midsection.

According to the USDA’s latest “Crop Progress” report, 23 percent of corn has dented, which is 22 percentage points below the five-year average. Most states reporting maturity on par with their state’s average are in the east, while others to the west continue to struggle.

Iowa is currently 37 percentage points behind its five-year average while Illinois, Kansas and Minnesota are each 27 percentage points behind.

By this time last year, 73 percent of the nation's corn had already dented.

Conditions are continuing to deteriorate. Fourteen percent of the nation’s corn in poor or worse condition, compared to 13 percent last week.

Kansas has the worst corn in the country with 28 percent in poor or very poor condition with Colorado (22 percent), Iowa (21 percent), Missouri (20 percent) and North Dakota (19 percent) also reporting high percentages of struggling corn.

Soybean maturity is closer to average, with the USDA reported 84 percent of soybeans setting pods. This is just 6 percentage points below the five-year average and 9 points behind last year’s progress. Currently 13 percent of soybeans are in poor or very poor condition, up from 10 percent last week. Iowa and North Dakota both report 20 percent of corn in these conditions, the highest percentages seen in the report.